Unlock Your Potential: Master Hill Repeats with the Runna App

Mastering Hill Repeats with the Runna App

Hill repeats on the Runna app can be incredibly effective… once you know what’s going on. They also require a little thought and planning, and judging by the number of conversations I’ve had with confused runners, you’re not alone if you’ve found them slightly baffling.

Common questions include:

• What kind of hill am I supposed to be running up?

• What do the audio cues actually mean?

• Can the Runna app coach me through hill repeats on a gym treadmill?

  
  

In this article, I’ll break down how Runna hill sessions work, explain those sometimes-confusing audio prompts, help you choose the right hill, and point you towards useful resources to improve your hill running performance.

New to Runna?

If you’re curious about the Runna app and want full access to try it out, you can download the app and enter the code below. This gives you two weeks of all-access use, enough time to set up a training plan and experience the coached sessions properly.

Runna – 2-week free trial: RUNNA20PQR9E

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Typical Runna hill repeats programme

Runna Hill Sessions: What to Expect

Most Runna hill sessions follow a similar structure:

• Warm-up run to the base of the hill

• 30, 60, or 90-second uphill repeats

• Cool-down jog back home or to your start point

The Warm-Up

Warm-up distances usually range from 1 to 2.5 miles, depending on your programme. From my experience with Runna’s 50K and 100K plans, this is fairly standard.

I’m lucky enough to have two ideal hills close to home, so getting a warm-up in is easy. If you’re driving to find a suitable hill, you’ll need to factor this in and plan ahead.

Keep the warm-up relaxed. Dial back the pace, stay comfortable, and treat it as an easy run or Zone 2 effort. You’re warming up, not auditioning for the hill repeats early.

Breaking Down the Hill Repeats

Once you reach the hill, each repeat has three key components:

1. 30 / 60 / 90 seconds “run hard uphill”

2. Short recovery period (typically 15–30 seconds)

3. Jog back to the base of the hill

4. 
   

Simple in theory. Slightly less simple when you’re gasping for air halfway through.

Choosing the Right Hill

Your hill should be runnable. This is not the time for a hands-on-knees, scrambling-up-a-mountain scenario.

If it’s your first time doing hill repeats, choose something fairly gentle. Hill sessions work muscles in ways flat running doesn’t, and you will feel it afterwards. Knees, ankles, hips, calves — and possibly your shins — will all have opinions.

As you become stronger and more comfortable, you can progress to steeper hills. Just remember: runnable is the key word.

Choose your hill carefully!

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Those Confusing Runna Audio Cues

Most of the cues are straightforward:

• “Start running”

• “Run to the base of the hill”

• “Press continue to move forward”

  
  

That last one is where things can go wrong.

At the top of the hill, during your short recovery, the app may tell you to “press continue”. Do not press it yet. Not until you’ve jogged back down to the base of the hill.

If you press it early, the app assumes you’re ready for the next repeat — and will happily instruct you to run hard uphill again while you’re still halfway down the hill. Ask me how I know. You’ve been warned.

What Does “Run Hard Uphill” Actually Mean?

This should feel like a 9 or 10 out of 10 effort.

On a 60-second repeat, by around 45 seconds you should be questioning your life choices and wishing for the beep to arrive sooner. When it does, your lungs should be burning and your breathing completely out of sync with reality.

That’s success.

Use the recovery period to get air back into your lungs and regain some control. The jog back down the hill is your chance to bring your heart rate down before doing it all over again.

Making the Session Work for You

This is your workout. Depending on how I’m feeling, I’ll sometimes take a short break halfway through the session. For example, if I have 14 repeats, I’ll stop after 7, grab a drink, let my body settle, and then crack on with the second half.

And on the very last repeat? Full send. There is almost always more in the tank than you think, and that final effort is where I try to hit my best pace of the session.

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Treadmill Hill Repeats – Yes, Really

If, like me, you live in a very rural location, there are times when hill repeats outdoors simply aren’t happening. When the local single-track lanes are coated in several inches of mud, attempting hill reps becomes less “structured training” and more “Bambi on ice”.

That’s when the gym becomes your friend.

Thankfully, Runna includes a treadmill mode, and it works surprisingly well. When you open your scheduled session in the app, just select the treadmill option before you start. Some gyms even have treadmills that connect directly to your phone, which is next-level fancy (and slightly intimidating). Mine doesn’t, so I go old-school.

I press start in the app and manually set the treadmill speed as prompted. From there, the session flows smoothly through the warm-up, each hill repeat, and the cool-down. About four seconds before the next segment — whether that’s the uphill effort, recovery, or jog back down — I adjust the treadmill settings. That gives the belt just enough time to catch up without any dramatic button-mashing.

For the hill repeats, I increase both the incline and speed. The treadmill takes a few seconds to reach the required settings, which actually works perfectly and feels very natural within the session.

I often use a treadmill in winter training

The best part? Once you’ve started, you don’t need to fiddle with your phone or watch. No pressing buttons mid-rep, no frantic screen tapping while out of breath. The app transitions seamlessly through each phase of the workout and simply tells you what’s coming next.

It’s not quite the same as charging up a real hill in the fresh air, but when the countryside turns into a mud bath, treadmill hill repeats are a very solid — and far less slippery — alternative.

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Form, Pacing, and Injury Management

Hill repeats place a lot of stress on the body, especially through the lower half — hips, knees, calves, and ankles all take a beating.

Over the last few years, I’ve worked hard on my uphill and downhill form:

• Uphills: shorter strides, higher cadence, no over-striding

• Downhills: lifting the legs higher (almost like trying to kick your backside)

  
  

This approach improves efficiency, reduces impact, and gives much better control on the descent — with the added bonus of better pacing.

I originally planned to go deeper into form, pacing, and injury management here, but on reflection, it deserves an article of its own. I’ll be writing that soon and will include links to excellent online resources and YouTube videos.

If you’re already tackling hill repeats, leave a comment and let me know how you’re getting on. Love them? Hate them? Still arguing with the audio cues?